Capitol Building, Singapore
The Capitol Building is a historic building at the junction of North Bridge Road and Stamford Road in the Downtown Core of Singapore. History In 1929, Mirza Mohammed Ali Namazie, a Persian businessman of the Namazie family, commissioned the theatre to be built in Singapore, with S. A. H. Shirazee, an Indian-Muslim merchant and community leader and the South African brothers Joe and Julius Fisher from the First National Pictures, joined in to form Capitol Theatres as the film operator. Namazie would serve as a theatre company's chairman with Shirazee as the director, Joe Fisher as the managing director and his brother Julius Fisher as the publicity manager. Joe Fisher travelled overseas to acquire the materials for the theatre's furnishings, decorations and design. The Capitol Theatre was designed neoclassical architecture by Keys & Dowdeswell, with the general plan, seating arrangements and lighting inspired by Roxy Theatre from New York, United States. Construction of the foundation began in July 1929. Messrs Sherwin-Williams Paint Co. in collaboration with local partner Messrs Lohmann and Co., designed the theatre's walls' and ceilings' detailing. Although installed with ventilation system, the theatre’s roof was able to slide open which leave a 40-foot aperture for more ventilation. The first layout of the theatre could accommodate at least 1,600 people, with 1,100 seated on the ground floor. Around 500 seats are available at the circle that could be accessed via lifts or staircases. The seats were a few inches wider than the normal British cinema seats, and the upholstery was made by the British company. The theatre had the large projection room located below the balcony and ran the length of the building instead of traditionally been sited in the rear. It housed the latest Simplex projector installed with fireproof protection shutters. The theatre's acoustics and soundproofing were said to be exceptional at that time. Special expensive sound installations costing at least 40,000 Straits dollars were imported from the Western Electric Company. The theatre's stage was also designed for the stage productions, with changing rooms and organ chambers built into the theatre. It was also the first to equip multihued lighting system using concealed lamps with a dimmer function, which was never used in other existing theatres in Singapore at that time. Besides having the floodlit main entrance at the junction of Stamford Road and North Bridge Road, there are also two side entrances from Stamford Road and North Bridge Road, with a parking lot to accommodate at least 200 cars. There were several food outlets at the theatre. The main cafe on the first floor had a dance floor where cabaret was held at the selected nights, and adjoining the cafe was a restaurant which is called Capitol Restaurant. A cafe lounge was launched at the circle. A special cooking room for making French pastries was built at the kitchen on the ground floor. Its adjoined building, known as Namazie Mansions, which was named after the Chairman Namazie, was completed in 1930. In 22 May 1930, Capitol Theatre officially opened on the evening with much fanfare with musical comedy film Rio Rita, the theatre was hailed as having the most modern auditorium with the largest capacity in the Far East. Several specially prepared short films were screened to demonstrate the quality from its installed sound system. These were an overture, Capitol March, a cartoon Finding His Voice demonstrating the workings of the sound system; and the recorded inaugural announcement by the Capitol’s managing director, Joe Fisher. However, during the first screening at 6.15 pm, there was a mechanical fault from the faulty sound projection, which was then corrected by the 9.15 pm show. Joe Fisher, who became a pioneer in the Malayan cinema industry alongside with his brother Julius, was responsible for purchasing films' rights for the theatre, which was able to gain exclusive first-screening rights for Paramount Pictures and Universal Studios productions, along with exclusive distribution rights for Radio Pictures. The theatre would also screened the British Pathé Sound News, as well as a new film for every week. Capitol Theatre soon faced with issues, including the sudden death of Chairman Namazie in 1931, strict censorship laws and the competitions with other theatres which hurt its operations financially. In 1933, Joe and Julius Fisher started the Mickey Mouse Club to attract business. They later brought in the Marcus Show, a revue with a chorus line of 60 dancing girls, thus making the theatre and its various eateries a popular hangouts for the local youths. Early movie stars such as Charlie Chaplin, Ava Gardner, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks visited the theatre to promote their movies when they were in Singapore. In September 1939, the theatre was refurbished, seats were replaced with new upholstered ones, installed an air-conditioning system and had its vestibule redesigned and was completed by 31 January 1940. On the following day the theatre screened The Wizard of Oz to mark the occasion, and gained ahead of its competitors. The colonial government requisitioned the Capitol Theatre, which was closed after 1 show and also including the closure of Capitol Restaurant in 19 December 1941, while the Mansions continue to serve as colonial flats. The style of the building is eclectic neo-Classical, characterised by somewhat ponderous detailing. It was one of the very few air-conditioned theatres when it was built by the Namazies, a prominent Persian family to host live shows. By the mid-1930s, there were 10 cinemas, of which the Capitol was the largest and the newest. It opened in 1930 and was followed by the Alhambra, Marlborough, Pavilion, Roxy, Wembley, Tivoli, Empire, Jubilee and Gaiety. As the Mansions fronted the theatre, the large movie billboards announcing the latest films were placed on its frontage, resulted the two buildings so closely associated that one was often mistaken for the other. The Namazie Mansions was sometimes erronomously referred as the "Capitol Theatre Building". Following the Japanese Occupation of Singapore in 1942, the theatre was taken over by the Japanese to serve as a food deport and operated under the name Kyo-Ei Gekijo, its English-language movies would later be forbidden after a few months and the theatre would only screen Japanese features and propaganda movies as well as orchestras. The theatre operated until 1944, when a bomb planted by the anti-Japanese resistance fighters exploded, damaging its facade and the Mansions as well. After the war in 1945, Capitol Theatre and Namazie Mansions had since put under mortgage under the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. Later in 1946, Shaw bought over the buildings for $3 million and made the Capitol Theatre as its flagship cinema and renamed its adjoined Mansions as Shaw Building. In the late 1948, renovation of the buildings started which included repairing the damaged structure and new ballroom and restaurant known as Capitol Ballroom & Restaurant with a function room named Capitol Blue Room on the first floor. Its supposed reopening of the theatre on 30 March 1951 was delayed for 24 hours, due to the late arrival of the equipment needed for the Scandinavian Ice Revue to install the ice rink in the theatre. The theatre was officially reopened in 31 March 1951 at 9.15 pm to host the first ice show in Singapore. In 23 December 1952, the Capitol Chinese Restaurant was opened in the Capitol Blue Room in the evening, which specialised in Shanghai and Szechuan food prepared by cooks from China. From the 1951 to the 1960s, the theatre was also the venue for hosting Miss Singapore and Miss Malaya beauty pageants, the Variety Show Musical Express and Singaporean musical group The Quests were held at the Capitol from the 1960s onwards. In 1978, Shaw Organisation had put up Capitol Theatre and Shaw Building for sale, however no deal has been reached. Shaw Organisation later revealed plans to acquire the land of nearby Capitol Shopping Centre and to demolish Capitol Theatre and Shaw Building and redevelop the site into a shopping complex and the multiscreen cinema with commercial and residential apartments. However, under the Control of the Rent Act 1953 in the penal code, the Shaw Organisation had to provide compensation to its current tenants which proved a challenge to them. It was listed for preservation in August 1983 by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and later acquired the buildings from Shaw in 1987, for which the Shaw Organisation become the lease for the use of the theatre and the building. In 1989, the theatre closed for two-week renovation with the cost of $700,000 with rewiring, re-equipped with the new sound system and projectors and painting of the cinema and reopened on 26 October 1989 with Lethal Weapon II. The Shaw Building had underwent renovations and was relaunched on 30 April 1992 as the Capitol Building for commercial purposes. Its use as a movie theatre ended with its last movie screening on 29 December 1998, which had screened the last film - Soldier. Redevelopment In 2000, the Singapore Tourism Board took over the building to explore alternative uses for it, but plans to turn it into a home for an arts group was languished and the cost of refurbishment was exorbidant. On April 3, 2008, it was reported by Xinyi Hong, the spokesperson of the Singapore Land Authority that the Capitol building will be redeveloped along with its stretch of adjoining buildings - Stamford House, Capitol Building and Capitol Centre - in 2009. The four adjoining buildings currently rest on an area of about 1.45 hectares with a total of 250 tenants, including offices and retail outlets. Tenancy with retailers along the Capitol stretch will end by May 2009, and to have their businesses relocated elsewhere. The Authority will finalise the eviction notice once the timing and details for the development of the site are finalised. While development plans are being made, three of these buildings have been gazetted for conservation, meaning that the buildings' facades and other architectural features must be maintained to ensure the buildings' historical integrity. In November 2011, Shimizu Corporation was awarded the redevelopment project to develop into a large scale mixed use complex called "Capitol Development". This project consist of Singapore's largest cinema cum theatre complex, 6 stars luxury hotel & retail shops, with a total size of 21,000 m2. There is also a residential component, named Eden Residences Capitol. In April 2013, 12 residential units were sold at average price of S$3000 psf. The movie theatre operator Golden Village had entered into the partnership in 2014 with Capitol Investment for the movie blockbuster premieres, and installed servers and projectors into the theatre. The redevelopment had been completed and topped up on 3 April 2014. The Capitol Theatre was reopened on 19 May 2015, and Sheryl Teo had went to that building, to watch Singapura: The Musical. Both 1965 and 7 Letters also had been filmed at this building. Category:Landmarks in Singapore Category:Cinemas in Singapore Category:Downtown Core (Singapore)